As an independent writer and book author for more than thirty years, I have written for a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, The Jewish Week, Ladies Home Journal, Ms., Parents, and many others. I’ve been a contributing editor for U.S. News and World Report as well as for Psychology Today. I’m currently a contributing editor and the book columnist for The Psychotherapy Networker.

The broad range of subjects I’ve covered through the years include Jewish history, culture, and literature; psychology, health, parenting, and family life; literature and fiction; travel and culture; personal essays and memoir; office life and retirement issues.

My memoir, After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges (1992, Summit Books/Simon and Schuster) was listed as a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” and one of USA Today’s ten best non-fiction books of the year. My first book, Hunting the Headhunter: A Woman’s Guide, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1988. I am also the co-author, with psychologist Scott Wexler of, Is It You or Is It Me: Why Couples Play the Blame Game (HarperCollins 1998).

I’m also on the faculty of the Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center in New York, where I have taught courses on Philip Roth, Jewish humor, Yiddish literature, and themes of faith and doubt in Jewish literature.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, I received my undergraduate degree from Harvard College (1974) and have an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University (1975). I live in New York City, with my husband Philip Barnett.